Lorraine Mullally

2009 has been a disappointing year for anyone who cares about democracy in Europe. It will go down in history as the year the political elite finally won the battle against the people to enforce the undemocratic EU Constitutional Treaty without their consent, or, in the case of Ireland, by bulldozing their original decision to reject it.

That said, it’s hardly been the best year for EU integrationists either. Turnout at the European elections hit a record low, and there was widespread public dismay at the secrecy in which EU leaders appointed an unknown Belgian federalist to be President of Europe.

The really bad news for the people so desperate to pass the Treaty is that since it is now in force, there will be countless new examples of just how out of touch and undemocratic the EU has become. As the EU flexes its new muscles, millions of people across Europe will gradually realise they have less and less say over the issues which affect their lives, and their scepticism and frustration will only grow.

Because make no mistake, the loss of powers to the EU does not end with the Lisbon Treaty. On the contrary, federalist leaders think they’ve been given a green light to go full steam ahead to political union.

Take the agenda of the upcoming ‘trio’ of EU ‘presidencies’, beginning with Spain in January 2010. It says:

“The task ahead of us is to build a more united and a more integrated Europe.”

Less than two weeks before the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, opponents of the text still have some cause for optimism – such as the return of Declan Ganley to the disparate Irish ‘no’ campaign, or the new Europe Says No initiative.

But there’s no denying a ‘yes’ vote remains the most likely outcome, given the recent polls. David Cameron has reiterated again this week that he will hold a referendum on Lisbon if the Treaty is not yet in force by the time he gets to power. But if Ireland does ratify the Treaty, and Germany also finishes the job, signals from the Czech Republic and Poland suggest these last remaining countries would not be far behind. And with the Manchester conference due to open just days after the referendum, ‘Europe’ is going to be on everyone’s lips. A contingency plan is needed – and fast.

There is absolutely no mistaking the public mood on Europe now. A new YouGov poll for the Telegraph this week found that 57 percent of voters think that a Conservative government should hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, even it is already ratified. Clearly, the fact that the Treaty has been “successfully” forced through against the will of the British people does not somehow make it right. The Treaty will only have been in force for a few short months before the election.

But if Lisbon is already in force in Brussels, it would be a big step to have a retrospective vote on it. It doesn’t look like the Conservatives want to take this step.

Even if there isn’t going to be a referendum on Lisbon, we must have the long overdue vote on the future of our relationship with the EU – a “referendum on reform”. Such a vote would help to inform the public about all aspects of our membership. I believe that finally consulting the people would shatter the permissive consensus among the political class which has allowed the continual erosion of our democracy.

Lorraine Mullally is Director of Open Europe and argues here that the Europe Minister's admission that she has not bothered to read the Lisbon Treaty in its entirety makes it all the more urgent that British voters are given the opportunity to have their say in a referendum.

Unfortunately for the Government, the Lisbon Treaty and the referendum that never was came back to bite it this week, in the wake of Europe Minister Caroline Flint’s extraordinary admission that she hasn’t bothered to read the text in full.

For a Minister paid to discuss EU issues, it’s unbelievable and unacceptable that she hasn’t read – let alone tried to understand – the most important document to come out of the EU in years, and one which will have profound consequences for Europe and the UK’s place in it. She should know it like the back of her hand.

Lorraine Mullally of Open Europe says that voters are ready for real reform of the EU and next June's European Elections are an opportunity for David Cameron to provide it.

With Glenrothes out the way, the next big electoral contest in the calendar is the European elections in June 2009. That might seem a relatively long way off, but the Conservatives have got some serious thinking to do before then.

Europe is going to be a bigger issue than some in the party would like it to be. The Euro elections offer an opportunity to make some early headway on this powerful issue which, if mishandled, has the potential to wreak havoc.

When the Government lined up with the Lib Dems to prevent the promised referendum on the Lisbon Treaty back in the spring, it left a bad taste in the mouths of voters.

And while the world’s eyes are on Obama and the credit crisis, people in the Brussels bubble continue their dreary obsession with pushing through the Lisbon Treaty – despite the minor issue of its rejection by the people of France, the Netherlands and Ireland.

By the time we get to the European elections, some stitch-up will be well underway for ratifying the Treaty in Ireland – whether it be a second referendum, or some messy fudge involving the hijacking of Croatia’s accession treaty.

All this has the potential to remind British voters what a sham EU democracy really is, and reignite some of the anger that propelled more than 150,000 people in only ten constituencies to turn out and vote in the I Want A Referendum campaign earlier this year.

How the public lost faith in Brussels

The Europhiles argue that the public find Europe boring and don’t really care about it. This argument reflects the underlying weakness of their position. It may be true that other things are higher on the public’s list of priorities, but the European elections will bring the EU into focus as an issue. And when the public do think about Europe, their view is clear.

The EU is now the least popular it has been in Britain in 25 years. Not since 1983, when Thatcher was haggling for the UK rebate, has it been so unpopular. According to European Commission polls, at a high point in 1991, 57% of British people thought the EU was broadly a good thing, compared to 13% who thought it was a bad thing. Now, only 30% of British voters think EU membership is a good thing, compared to 32% who think it is a bad thing. This is despite the fact that all the main parties are broadly in favour of EU membership.